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School Charging £25 for passport applications

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  • beca
    beca Posts: 130 Forumite
    Because it's not some random service you are ordering it's something personal, you are asking someone who know's you to vouch for your identity and personally know who you are. Would you expect someone to charge for being your character witness in court? Wouldn't look good for your defence would it?

    Well I personally would certainly offer anyone who was doing me a favour some sort of recompense i.e. in the form of out of pocket expenses. Whether they accepted or not would be up to them, but I would certainly offer it - maybe its just me but I never like to take advantage of anyone's generosity!
  • beca
    beca Posts: 130 Forumite
    cannyscot wrote:


    I would tell them -I am fed up of Teachers who think they are busier etc etc than the rest of us.


    I think they are certainly busier than "the rest of us" think they are! Oh - and I thanked you by mistake - sorry
  • beca
    beca Posts: 130 Forumite
    Pennywise wrote:
    No, there can be more to it than that. I charge my clients for signing their passport application form and I do that to discourage them from asking. It is a real pain in the neck. First they have to phone to make an appointment to come into the office (wasting time on the phone), and that of course means that other fee paying clients can't use that appointment slot. Then usually they don't bring the necessary paperwork, meaning a wasted appointment slot and going through the whole thing again. Then quite often the passport office do phone or write for confirmation which means time out again getting the file. If people actually completed the form properly the first time, brought in the proper paperwork the first time, actually turned up for the appointment, etc., then it wouldn't be so much of a problem. I suspect the school are doing this so that they simply don't have to deal with it. It is not the schools fault, neither is it any other professional's fault - it's the system that should be being blamed - if you are then upset, complain to your MP.

    I agree with you totally. I think the school is trying to put people off asking for this service and that is fair enough. I think schools and teachers have enough to do as it is.
  • Pennywise wrote:
    It is not the schools fault, neither is it any other professional's fault - it's the system that should be being blamed - if you are then upset, complain to your MP.

    I think you are hitting the nail on the head there. By making the list of people able to certify identity mainly made up of professionals (who's time is at a premium and would usually be costly), they are automatically putting people in a difficult position of giving up their own time to certify or feeling that they have to charge due to volume of requests.

    Maybe it is the system that has to be looked at. Are professionals told to do this when they qualify? Look at the system, Will Aid. Specific lawyers state that they are happy to give free appointment time to make will for anyone who makes a donation to charity. That works because the general public know who is happy to do it. That system wouldnt work with passports as it has to be someone who knows you, but maybe this system needs to be changed. It isn't very well thought through in terms of medical time being used and teacher time.

    Back to the OP, I reckon £25 is well out of line, although I can see the reasoning behind it.
    Not buying unnecessary toiletries 2024 26/53 UU, 25 IN
  • superscaper
    superscaper Posts: 13,369 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    beca wrote:
    I think they are certainly busier than "the rest of us" think they are! Oh - and I thanked you by mistake - sorry
    Have to agree with that. Every teacher I know work ridiculously long hours. I don't know any other job where you work so much unpaid overtime. But it's a difficult situation, I don't know who else could vouch for a childs identity better other than a teacher. I still think the decision should be upt to individual teachers not school policy so long as they are doing it in their own time (break time or whatever) and they ultimately should be given the right to decline. But overall the official list of "upstanding citizens" seems quite arbitrary and silly.
    "She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
    Moss
  • LondonDiva
    LondonDiva Posts: 3,011 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    I think you are hitting the nail on the head there. By making the list of people able to certify identity mainly made up of professionals (who's time is at a premium and would usually be costly), they are automatically putting people in a difficult position of giving up their own time to certify or feeling that they have to charge due to volume of requests.

    Maybe it is the system that has to be looked at. Are professionals told to do this when they qualify? Look at the system, Will Aid. Specific lawyers state that they are happy to give free appointment time to make will for anyone who makes a donation to charity. That works because the general public know who is happy to do it. That system wouldnt work with passports as it has to be someone who knows you, but maybe this system needs to be changed. It isn't very well thought through in terms of medical time being used and teacher time.

    Back to the OP, I reckon £25 is well out of line, although I can see the reasoning behind it.

    The reason it has to be a 'professional' is that most professions have professional bodies that you have to register with and prove that you are of 'good character/standing'.

    Also if anything goes wrong, you can be traced through the body to confirm you are who you say you are.

    I agree with the school's actions. They don't have to do this favour and are actually granting a favour.

    In the area I work in, most of hte GPs have stopped countersigning forms (apart from people who they've know for decades) because they are fed up with last minute forms and also because of the new requirements to put your own details on the passport forms. Their justification is that they deal with a lot of unsavoury characters and there's no reason they should be compelled to put their reputation at risk for them - one of them was caught a few years back by a patient making a false request(?) for a passport and he had to prove he was in no way implicated in the scam.

    At the end of the day, the counter signatory is making a legal declaration and can get in trouble if a fiddle is involved.
    "This is a forum - not a support group. We do not "owe" anyone unconditional acceptance of their opinions."
  • Random
    Random Posts: 234 Forumite
    My son's school no longer do them, as they said they are obliged to give details of qualifications and home address, their association had advised them not to. Helpful passport helpline told me to take him to the police station and ask them, despite me pointing out that I'd never been there in my life and they didn't know either of us. In the end my mother's friend did it, she has a shop but we actually put her down as member of the local traders association, and they accepted it.

    However, I was told it doesn't have to be a professional as such (lawyer, doctor etc) but anyone with a degree. And I managed to sign one for a friend's daughter just by stating my degree. Might help anyone who knows someone with a degree but not a 'respectable' job to write down. :D
  • beca wrote:
    I agree with you totally. I think the school is trying to put people off asking for this service and that is fair enough. I think schools and teachers have enough to do as it is.



    Rubbish!!!

    My mother is a principal teacher , does everything she should in her job and has some of the best results in the country. She is also a local authority councillor and because of her principals works in a less affluent area making sure special needs schools get resources and old age pensioners get housing , people with difficult situations get help and as a JP can sign quite a few things, she would not bat an eye nor ask for money,to sign anything that was required.

    I come from a family of professionals and I am sick of people who are up themselves because they are professional -their time is money etc-they are busier-places like MSE would not exsist if we were too busy to help other people! I get loads of help advice from here and I would gladly give help to anyone I could.

    There are like any profession teachers who are good caring and professional but there are also those who think it is ok to treat the other mere mortals no matter how caring kind and professional as if they too are children -in fact quite a bad habit amongst the teachers I meet. -but thenI am probably biased as my Father has been inspecting HT and teachers all his life and the stories I hear are at sometimes quite remarkable. So no Sorry they are no busier than your average FD(ie me ) working in the Charitable sector as times having to pitch in with the crap to make the Charity meet it's targets and having 3 children , one with additional needs or for that matter some of the single stay at home parents who post on here who are obviously up to their neck time wise.

    Rant over!
  • Have to agree with that. Every teacher I know work ridiculously long hours. I don't know any other job where you work so much unpaid overtime. But it's a difficult situation, I don't know who else could vouch for a childs identity better other than a teacher. I still think the decision should be upt to individual teachers not school policy so long as they are doing it in their own time (break time or whatever) and they ultimately should be given the right to decline. But overall the official list of "upstanding citizens" seems quite arbitrary and silly.



    Ridiculously long hours are not just for Teachers-try manual workers,lorry drivers,people working all night -nurses , junior doctors !!!

    Teachers is the scheme of things work as much as anyone else getting paid what they are paid.

    I as a young underpaid accountant worked all night on occassions -no overtime! -my BIL works all night on a deal as a commercial lawyer-no overtime-despite being in London he gets no more than my aunt who is a primary school depute who does Yes put in quite a few hours but no more than anyone of her salary in another profession.

    I was blessed to go to Uni and get a decent education with a good opportunity to get a living , Yes sometimes I have to work long hours , yes sometimes I have to take tough decisions that have a bearing on other people's lives ie withdrawing funding from people who really need it -but on the whole what a great life with good working conditions -maybe some of those teachers should think about the people who are less fortunate and do not have their education and their choices-get on with it and stop bleating!
  • Poppy9
    Poppy9 Posts: 18,833 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Lets not turn this into an anti-teacher thread. :o

    I think as previously mentioned you now have to give personal information and your own passport number when countersigning applications. While I'm happy to give this information to friends & some work colleagues I wouldn't be happy to give it to more casual acquaintances which is what parents are to teachers. It's not the child who completes the application form it's the parents.
    :) ~Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.~:)
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